Advocacy and Policy Change

We engage in advocacy and strategic partnerships that facilitate the deployment and attraction of capital to benefit under-resourced communities.

CURRENT POLICY PRIORITIES

SCCLF stands with coalitions of community development advocates to advance policies on the state and federal level that facilitate equitable access to capital in South Carolina communities.

STATE

Healthy Food Financing Initiative: The South Carolina Healthy Food Financing Initiative provides access to loans to support local farmers and businesses to renovate or expand food projects in underserved communities. The S.C. Food Access Task Force was developed in 2012 to set forth an implementation plan for a statewide, state-sponsored HFFI. The South Carolina HFFI received its first appropriation of $250,000 from the South Carolina General Assembly during the 2016 legislative session. More information on this initiative and the food access task force can be found at scfoodaccess.com.

SC Community Development Tax Credit: South Carolina provides valuable tax incentives to people who support Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). A 33% credit is provided for each dollar invested in or donated to a certified CDC or CDFI, significantly reducing the effective cost of making a donation and allowing a donor to earn an attractive rate of return on their investment. SCCLF is committed to increasing the number of community development tax credits available and to making this legislation, currently scheduled to sunset in 2020, permanent.

FEDERAL

CDFI Fund and FY 2019 Budget: The fiscal year 2019 budget proposal was released in February 2018 and proposes a $234 million cut to CDFI Fund grant programs. SCCLF stands with national partners such as Opportunity Finance Network and the CDFI Coalition to advocate for the preservation of the CDFI Fund in the 2019 budget.

Summits: SCCLF has hosted annual summits aimed at increasing healthy food access and affordable housing in SC. Both the Housing Policy Summit and the Food Access Summit were hosted in Columbia and were one-day events. Building off the energy of our past events, the SC Housing Policy Summit, the SC Food Access Summit, and the Thought Leader Speaker Series, we are launching a new combined event in 2018. The Investing in Community Summit will highlight the interdependence between affordable housing, healthy food access, community facilities, and community businesses, as well as the need for interdisciplinary solutions to transform communities.

A HISTORY OF ADVOCACY

South Carolina Community Loan Fund has been a leading voice in local and statewide advocacy efforts, which has resulted in the following legislation and ordinances:

LEGISLATION

William C. Mescher Local Housing Trust Fund Enabling Act
Tax Increment Financing
Community Land Trust
Community Economic Development Act

About Us

We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit community development finance organization whose annual operating budget is supported through a variety of contributions from local and national governments, foundations, corporations, and individual donations, as well as interest income earned from our lending activities.